Changes Coming for Dallas Stars

By Andy Schmidt

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone knew that changes were coming to the Dallas Stars after missing the NHL playoffs this season. Dallas fired general manager Joe Nieuwendyk and hired Jim Nill to take over to try to fix the issues on this Stars team. Nill isn’t ready to discuss any coaching changes, but I’m sure more things are coming. Dallas needs to add some more offense if possible in the offseason after having their leading scorer, Jaromir Jagr, score 14 goals before being traded. Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson were second on the team with 12 goals apiece.

It’s those kinds of statistics that scare a lot of people. Dallas may have come close to making the playoffs this season even with all their changes, but you can’t depend on your goalie to keep you in the game all the time. There are sure to be some goal-scorers on the market this offseason, and Dallas has to find a way to sign at least one of those players. Kari Lehtonen could use a day in net where he doesn’t need to be perfect for the Stars to win games.

Lehtonen will be 30 years old as well early next season, and while he had a solid season in 2013, he probably needs to be a bit better himself. He finished with a 15-14-3 record and a 2.66 goals against average. I would say that he played fairly well considering how little offense the team put up in front of him though. Nill has a tough challenge ahead of him to make this Dallas team better before next season. I’m curious to see if he is up to it.

Andy Schmidt is a writer/columnist for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.